CallXpress Case Study
John Carroll University Replaces Outdated Centigram with AVST CallXpress®
Founded in 1886, John Carroll University (www.jcu.edu) is a Catholic, Jesuit private liberal arts university near Cleveland, Ohio. Close to 400 part- and full-time faculty members serve more than 4,000 students. The University offers 62 Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs and its mission is to develop people of diverse backgrounds with the knowledge and character to lead and serve.
CHALLENGE
In the university setting a voice mail system quickly adds up to more than the sum of its parts. Faculty and staff members may relate the latest curriculum requirements or university procedures. Students leave messages regarding class projects, receive an answer on that loan from mom and dad or, most importantly, set that date for Friday night. With busy academic and social schedules, students and faculty consider voice mail a necessity—and it needs to be reliable.
A lack of reliability is exactly what drove technology personnel at JCU to find a new communications infrastructure. Its voice mail system of almost 10 years, Centigram, became outdated and was no longer supported by its manufacturer. Even with support, JCU recognized the need for a change. Bill Wilhelm, telecommunications specialist with JCU, described various issues the university faced with Centigram.
Limited storage – “Since it was costly to upgrade, we were severely limited on the number and hours of messages allowed on the system.” Due to these limitations, JCU could only allow students to receive up to six messages at any given time.
Delayed messaging – “As the Centigram system was aging, we began experiencing an increasing problem with delayed messages or indicator lights.” Users could receive information late or miss messages all together.
Slow service – “Centigram was slow to answer voice mail calls. When callers were transferred from their phone system to voice mail, the Centigram system would add one or two rings before answering.” Those callers who were unfamiliar with the system would often hang up before hearing the greeting.
In its search for a new communications system, JCU set top priorities. It must support shared extension mailboxes that offer privacy to students rooming together in on-campus housing. The system would also need to support other features that users had depended on for efficient communication.
Unlike its previous system, the new solution would need to offer redundancy and sufficient storage at an affordable price. And, though JCU did not have immediate plans to implement its functionality, the forward-thinking university wanted a system that would support future expansion to unified messaging. Both on the road and at home, the technology simplifies and speeds the process of accessing voice mails, e-mails and faxes. “Unified messaging is where everyone seems to be going,” Wilhelm said. “If we decide to go there, we want the system already included.”
JCU needed all these capabilities at a reasonable cost. “We didn’t have money budgeted (for a new system),” Wilhelm said, “but we were forced to make a switch because we couldn’t take the chance of the old system coming down in the middle of the school year.”
THE SOLUTION
AVST CallXpress caught the attention of JCU by offering shared extension mailboxes, redundancy, virtually unlimited storage and solving delayed message issues. CallXpress kept JCU’s attention since it supplies these features while supporting unified messaging, smoothly integrating with the university’s PBX and providing efficient system administration tools.
CallXpress came recommended by JCU’s provider, Altura Communications Solutions. “We’ve worked with Altura since 1983. Its service goes beyond what is needed to get a job done,” Wilhelm said.
End-user experience – Users benefit from expanded and reliable features they receive with CallXpress.
Immediacy – Voice mails are now delivered immediately along with timely indicator lights. Also, “End-users are happier because when they dial the system it answers instantly,” Wilhelm said. He noted other “nice features:” users may listen to messages via an autoplay format, each message rolls in to the next; and they may also choose to move or remove time stamps. The small details add up to convenience and time-savings, according to Wilhelm. Though students have the option to use personal answering machines, Wilhelm receives few such requests. “After seeing how (university voice mail) works, half of those students call to turn CallXpress back on.”
Unlimited storage – With CallXpress, users may save hundreds of messages with virtually unlimited storage capacity. “We’ll never fill it up,” Wilhelm said. One of the only complaints he has received about the system came from a teacher who had 60 messages in his inbox. “He didn’t know how he would ever get back to them all.” If the University needs to expand use, it will involve an affordable process of expanding disk space rather than estimating and paying for hours of storage.
Unified messaging – Unified messaging can enable faculty members to manage voice, e-mail and fax messages from one location, whether via phone, the desktop or the Internet. For instance, Wilhelm noted, personnel who travel “would find it handy to play emails via phone when they’re on the road.”
Enhanced communication – JCU relies on CallXpress to support additional communication needs. The Residence/Life staff sends a memo for students to set up voice mail so the staff and parents have a reliable way to reach students. Emergency messages may be distributed to all students quickly and easily. JCU has also used the interactive mailbox feature for campus events. Interested parties call a published number to RSVP by answering pre-set questions that result in a voice mail message. “We have set up automated surveys that provide information to the callers and allow staff members to stay off the phones focusing on other tasks,” Wilhem said.
Familiar Commands –The release of CallXpress 7.5 provides a new feature to Centigram users: Emulation of the Centigram Telephone User Interface (TUI) allows users to access messages with familiar keystrokes, such as "P" for play or "D" for delete.
ADMINISTRATOR EXPERIENCE
Job support –The cutover from JCU’s previous system to CallXpress was pain-free, according to Wilhelm. “We were up and running at 5:30 in the afternoon and we basically started at 5:30.” He added: “In a lot of ways, my job has become easier. At the end of each school year, I reset mailboxes for the incoming class. On Centigram, it took time to manually reset all 2,000 student mailboxes. With CallXpress, I load a disk and it does it automatically.”
Redundancy and reliability – CallXpress allows Wilhelm to back up the OS, all messages—“the entire kit and caboodle, and, it’s easily retrieved from the network.” Wilhelm also reported “zero issues with reliability” proving JCU made an educated choice with CallXpress.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For 25 years, AVST has been shaping the evolution of communication, with more than 40,000 installations. Our award-winning CallXpress solution has been unifying communications for companies all over the world. So as the world of enterprise communications advances, you can be assured that AVST has your future covered. To learn more visit www.avst.com or contact us at +1.949.699.2300.
ABOUT ALTURA
Altura Communication Solutions sells and services a variety of communication products. Headquartered in Anaheim, Calif., the Company has nationwide service capabilities and a customer base of more than 2,000 companies in several markets. For more information contact +1.714.948.8400 or visit www.alturacs.com.
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